1. Field of the invention
The invention relates generally to a device for cleaning golf clubs and more specifically to a device that is portable and provides for cleaning means for cleaning large and small clubs separately.
2. Description of the prior art
Every sport has its fine points which can help or hinder the player depending on how well he knows and uses them to his advantage. One of the fine points in the game of golf is that the ball will travel farther when hit with a club having clean grooves, all other things of course being equal. The golf club tends to pick up dirt, mud, and grass simply by virtue of its use in hitting a ball on the ground. It is desirable then, for golf courses to have stationed about the course, sites where players can clean their clubs as they play their round.
Stations for cleaning clubs and balls have been in use for some time but all have a common short coming in that they all attempt to use one arrangement to clean both large and small golf clubs. With the existing club cleaning devices it is, as a practical matter, impossible to clean large clubs such as the wooden clubs. The apertures are simply not designed to handle these clubs and they are usually only cleaned when the player returns to the club house or when he returns home.
The prior art shows examples of golf club and ball washing devices, none of which will allow the cleaning of both large and small clubs in the apparatus. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,952 issued Apr. 5, 1988 to Parchment, et al. shows a container for mounting on the rear of a golf cart containing brushes and a flap to prevent the fluid from spilling. FIG. 5 of the patent shows a typical small club being cleaned. In this view it would be impossible for the device to entertain a larger club. U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,358 issued Apr. 18, 1989 to Wyckoff, et al. shows a pair of opposed brushes in a container of washing fluid and a cover that will not allow the larger club to pass through, also the brushes, in such close proximity would not accept the larger club. U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,883 issued Oct. 20, 1992 to Legault shows a box of fluid with a pair of hand driven cylindrically shaped brushes that will clean all size clubs but in a manner far different then that of the device claimed herein. Design patents U.S. Pat. Des. No. 267,751 issued Jan. 25,1983 to Dobyns and U.S. Pat. Des. No. 308,766 issued Jun. 26, 1990 to Van Rensburg show golf club cleaners which fail to anticipate the device disclosed herein.